VENGEANCE OF JHAPOO THE GOND 267 



to and be transferred by a finger-tip insufficiently rubbed 

 clean of the greasy ochre, lay on the dead man's brow. 



I turned round and looked behind me uneasily. Not a 

 sound broke the silence of the night but the far-away howl 

 of wandering jackals. Through the wide-open doors and 

 windows I could see the starry sky. Hand on lid I re- 

 mained arrested in deep thought awhile. Some rats 

 galloped noisily in the ceiling -cloth above my head. 

 Then I slowly closed it down, turned the lock, and retired. 



Next morning I tore up that note. 



Some eighteen months had passed away, and the means 

 which I had devised to shield the chest and myself 

 from further attentions had proved so successful that I 

 had almost forgotten its existence. True, there had been 

 some inexplicable occurrences following its retirement ; 

 but they had long since ceased, and, in the desultory 

 correspondence which old Mulligatawny and I maintained, 

 references to Jhapoo had completely lapsed. 



The "hot weather" had come round again, and not being 

 able that year to indulge in one of my usual shooting 

 expeditions, I had obtained a few days' leave of absence, 

 and sent out some camp kit to an old Indian fort which 

 was situated on a solitary hill about fifty miles to the 

 northward. 



This ancient stronghold, a bold landmark, rose pre- 

 cipitously from the cultivated plains around, crowned by 

 crumbling battlements of time-blackened masonry which 

 was being slowly but surely disintegrated by the insidious 

 and irresistible roots of the pipal tree the saxifrage of 

 India. 



On the level summit a few solid old stone gateways and 

 cloistered Hindu edifices had survived the ravages of time 

 and the vandalism of Muhammadan conquest; and in their 

 cool shade my modest appurtenances had been arranged 

 with considerable comfort. 



We had heard that pig were to be found in the neigh- 



